Hi there - My name is Claudia. I live with my hubby and our two furry kids in Georgia, USA. Originally I am from Germany - southern belle from Bavaria replanted to the Southern US. I am very addicted to knitting - 4-5 projects going at the same time... What can I say...

Sunday, April 16, 2006

OMG - I am breaking one of my rules!

Which is? Don't sit in front of the PC on the weekend. But, I have a feeling I won't have much time for posting during the week. And I wanted to show off what I accomplished with my closet - yes - I finished it. Here are the pix - doesn't it look incredibly anal?

And I cleaned what I wanted to clean around the house on Friday. And I took pictures of what is on my needles now. And I had PT on Friday. Sounds busy now - but it didn't feel like a busy weekend.

The PT update is a good one. I will have three more PT sessions this week and then I'll see the orthopedist on 4/26. I am very confident - as is the physical therapist - that it was just a very bad sprain. I am not wearing the brace at home - which might be a mistake (hubby gives me grief for this and I am sure he is right, but it is soooo annoying and I promise I am careful walking around). As per doctors' orders I should wear the brace when I stand and walk... Oh well, I am not good with following orders - even being German does not help much. And Hermione, our Border collie, tries her best to keep her toys in my way. Maybe she likes having Mommy around for more than two days in a row.

So hopefully next week I can book my flight for the trip to Germany. I am guessing that I will be leaving around May 24 for ten days or so. That gives my bro and sis-in-law enough time to get used to their new baby. Which is overdue now by 5 days - how dare she... Mom told me today that my nephew Michael (my sis's son) knocked on the belly and asked Julia when she would come out - very cute. Can't wait to see the Krauts! And Dad will be back from his rehab. And it is Father's Day on 5/25 - so this would work out nicely - we'll see. I'll keep you posted. I am taking shopping lists for Germany i.e. Nutella, Regia sock yarn, etc. Just let me know. I am sure Mom and I will invade the LYSs.

Look who I found today, trying to knit... Or better keeping me from knitting:

How can you not want to pet this little guy and forget all about knitting? Nah, not really. Noah is very cute, but that would take hypnosis skills. So, let's get on with knitting projects. Here is what Noah is laying on:

I am knitting a felted bag (no specific pattern - making it up as I go) with Lamb's Pride Bulky in creme and some silver Moda Dea Zing to spice up the boring creme color. This is actually an experiment for my friend Jenny. She knitted and felted a beautiful bridal bag with some expensive yarn and we wanted to see how the creme colored Lamb's Pride felts as a substitute yarn since she needs to do a second one. I am not a big fan of creme or white wool for felting projects because it takes forever to felt. I felted with other colors of Lamb's Pride Bulky before and they all felted great. Cross your fingers ;-)

Then, I am working on the "Accidentally on Purpose" drop stitch tank from Stitch'N Bitch Nation in a VERY red 100% cotton yarn:

I am knitting this in Annie Modesitt's combination knitting technique. This piece is about half of the front and then I have to knit the back as well. Pretty boring - all stockinette stitch (at least the new-to-me knitting technique makes it a little more interesting) until you come to the top where you drop the stitches and the fun begins...

Another tank top on my needles (can you see that I am trying to get some knitting done for the summer?) is the Soleil Cami. I am using a silk/cotton yarn in avocado green - I have to get some tan to wear this color though...

And I finally started the Clapotis like everybody else on the planet - this is a very popular and very cool pattern for a scarf or wrap:

I am using the Mandarin Petit cotton yarn I got from Jane the other week. I have five balls and I am planning to make the Clapotis as long as the yarn will last.

Then, I have two sweaters going - also for the summer - with short sleeves. Both patterns come from the Spring 2006 issue of the German knitting magazine VERENA:

This sweater is actually finished now. I used Knit Picks Shine Cotton yarn (sand color). I will use this sweater to show my sweater class students how to block and sew the pieces together. You'll get to see a picture when it is completed.

And this sweater - it is gorgeous, but it makes me crazy... Too many stitches (176 just for the front). I have to be in a really good knitting mood to work on it. One row - since it is all cables - takes almost forever. Yes, not really, but it feels like forever. I am using Knit Picks Palette in white and black - I am not a big fan of the color combination the magazine picked (red/blue). Palette is a 100% Peruvian wool in fingering weight. What was I thinking???

AND - YES - I HAVE FINISHED OBJECTS, TOO...

The baby blanket for my niece Julia - the one we are waiting for these days - is finished. A wonderful cloud of pink acrylic yarn - Yarn Bee "Frosting" from Hobby Lobby - yes, sometimes I shop there, too.

And here are the socks I knitted from the yarn Pixie gave me last Saturday during her soiree. It is from Sweet Georgia Yarns and it is 100% Merino wool fingering weight yarn and handpainted (river color). I knitted a pair of lace socks from a pattern from an Interweave issue from last year.

And here they are finished - do you notice something? When they handpainted the yarn they forgot one brown strip towards the toe. Very unique ;-) I was too lazy to rip back and cut the yarn and re-start with a brown stripe. Nobody will have a pair of socks like these. I would like for Pixie to have the socks. She will have to try them on since her feet are smaller than mine.

Pixie also gave me some Baby Alpaca Brush yarn. I found a pattern for fingerless mittens. They can wait until fall ;-)

2 Comments:

that pattern is perfect for that yarn, as I was going to make something nearly identical with it. I was going to make it for my mom then found out she was alergic to wool, and I never wear white and black :) I can't wait to see those!

Those socks are so great, you are an amazingly fast knitter, I can't wait to see that peach colored top!

Hi, I just found your blog. I'm not too far from you (I live in northwest SC, between Greenville and Spartanburg) and I'm going to SAFF too. There are several other bloggers around here that are planning to go, too...we should all set a place and time to meet each other in real life!